Curso → Level 3 · Describir el mundo → Lección 7
Level 3 · Lesson 7 Hay
There is, there are
Hay no cambia: hay un banco, hay tres bancos, hay agua.
hay is one invariable word for 'there is' and 'there are' alike.
Escucha · Listen
En la ciudad
Luis, what is there in the town?
There is a square, a park and a church.
Is there a bank?
Yes, there are two banks on the square.
Where is the park?
The park is over there.
And a museum? Is there a museum?
No, there is no museum here. There is a school and a shop.
Explicación · Explanation
Hay no cambia. Hay una casa. Hay diez casas. Hay agua. Hay pan.
hay is a single frozen form, and it is the whole story: Spanish never switches between 'there is' and 'there are', because hay covers both. One church or ten churches, countable or not, the word stays exactly as it is. It has no plural at all.
Con hay van un y una: hay un parque, hay una plaza. También hay tres bancos, hay agua, hay pan. Con hay no van el, la, los, las.
hay puts something on the table for the first time, so it goes with un/una, with a number, or with nothing at all: hay un parque, hay tres bancos, hay agua. What it can never take is a definite article. hay el parque is not Spanish — that combination simply does not exist.
Con el, la, los, las va estar: hay un banco en la plaza; el banco está en la plaza. Hay una iglesia aquí; la iglesia está aquí.
Once the thing is known — once you can point at it and say el banco — you switch to estar to place it. hay un banco en la plaza introduces it; el banco está en la plaza locates it. The test is mechanical: un, una or a number take hay; el, la, los, las take estar.
Vocabulario · Vocabulary
| Palabra | Meaning | Nota · Note |
|---|---|---|
| hay | there is, there are | no cambia |
| banco | bank; bench | el banco |
| parque | park | el parque |
| plaza | square | la plaza |
| iglesia | church | la iglesia |
| museo | museum | el museo |
Práctica · Practice
Ponlo en práctica · Use it
Habla de la ciudad, en voz alta. Con hay: «Aquí hay un parque. Hay dos iglesias. No hay museo». Con estar: «El parque está allí. La iglesia está aquí».
Look out of the window, or picture your street, and say three sentences with hay for what exists there, then three with estar for where each of those things is. Notice how naturally the second set uses el and la — that is the rule working for you.